The Nationals took a flier on Wyatt Mills, while Oklahoma City welcomed back Cole Irvin and Chuckie Robinson as the Dodgers’ roster churn kept rolling this week.
Mills, a right-hander, was designated for assignment by Los Angeles on Monday as the club opened up 40-man roster space after a wave of trade deadline moves. By Thursday, Washington had claimed him off waivers and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester.
For Mills, the trip to the majors was a long-awaited return. The 31-year-old appeared in six games for the Dodgers this season, his first big-league action since 2022 after Tommy John surgery wiped out both 2023 and 2024.
“A long road, it’s never a guarantee that you get fully healthy after that,” Mills told me after his call-up in May. “So it was more like a deep breath, kind of peaceful.
I felt calm. I put in a lot of work, and my confidence came from that.”
His results in Los Angeles were rough: nine walks, five strikeouts and five runs allowed, four earned, across 6 1/3 innings. But at Triple-A Oklahoma City, he had been far sharper, posting a 2.41 ERA with six saves in 33 games, along with 52 strikeouts and 18 walks in 37 1/3 innings.
Oklahoma City also got one of its arms back this week after the Dodgers designated two more players for assignment. Cole Irvin was DFA’d one day after throwing six bulk innings in a reset game at Dodger Stadium on July 31. He cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A on August 3.
Irvin was back on the mound Friday night, starting and winning again for the Comets in Salt Lake.
In Other News...
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SportsNet LA had a surprisingly strong night on Aug. 1, when its broadcast of Tarik Skubals Dodgers debut drew a 2.97 Nielsen household rating and easily outpaced TBSs national telecast of the same game. For a regional network that has spent years trying to deepen its connection with Dodgers viewers, the numbers were a clear reminder that a local feed can still win when the audience wants the most familiar version of a big night.
The result also fits into the broader arc of how the networks coverage has evolved around the club, from shifts in the broadcast team to more visible changes at Dodger Stadium. SportsNet LA has kept refining the presentation, and the latest ratings suggest fans have noticed, even if the full measure of what this says about the networks long-term standing is still unfolding. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Suddenly Have A Roki Sasaki Decision They Didn't Expect
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Roki Sasaki has only made the decision trickier. His recent stretch has been strong enough to keep him in the conversation, even as Dave Roberts looks ahead to what happens if the rotation gets healthier before the postseason arrives. If Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and the rest are all available, the Dodgers may soon be forced to weigh frontline arms against each other in a way few clubs would ever welcome. [Read more 🡒]
Miguel Rojas Is Challenging The Dodgers To Think Like Its October
The Dodgers finally snapped their seven-game skid with a win over the Diamondbacks, but Miguel Rojas was still very much part of the conversation. Even though he did not play, Rojas said he had already sent a motivational message to the team as it starts its own late-season sprint, a reminder that the margin for error has effectively vanished and that every game now carries a different kind of weight.
Rojas voice carries extra credibility in this clubhouse, too, after he was named the Dodgers winner of the 2026 Heart & Hustle Award for his leadership and his work on the field. For a team trying to steady itself and think more like it will in October, that combination of presence and perspective matters, especially when the calendar is closing fast and the urgency is only going up. [Read more 🡒]